Lilya Nordstran
The State of Things Lilya Nordstran is the unquestioned leader of the Circle of the Crone in Los Angeles. She is the Dark Mother of the faith; the covenant’s Hierophant and its representative on the Primogen Council. A true master of Crűac, not to mention a powerful member of Clan Gangrel, she is the head of the city’s Cult of Kali and a force both respected and feared by her followers. She has actually led the covenant since the ’40s, when the previous Dark Mother went into torpor, having elected her to take over as Priestess of Kali. It is a position she has grown into and become comfortable with, and managed to strengthen, over the years. And while she is not above using force to bring recalcitrant Acolytes into line, by the same token she has been able to gain the support of a majority of the covenant through her obvious spiritual prowess and leadership abilities. Efforts to Close the Circle Of course, even a strong-willing woman like Nordstran could not bring a great deal of unity to the Circle. Under her leadership the Acolytes have solidified slightly, and even regained some lost territory from the Sanctified, but even so the Circle remains divided spiritually and only minimally united politically. Certainly the Circle has managed a degree of unity in the face of its enemies, but this has less to do with Nordstran than with necessity. The real problem is that Nordstran is not an overtly political individual. She is not unaware of the necessity, nor ignorant of the process, but she is mostly content to let matters lie, unwilling to push if it is not necessary. Theologically, Nordstran is more willing to take a stand, but that stand is more on the side of openness. Despite the fact that it might be in her best interest to do so, she is often unwilling to crush some of her rivals. The Mortal Behind the Kindred In appearance, Lilya is a woman proud and unbent yet scarred by the elements and by hard living, though many of these marks have faded since her Embrace. She was born in Czarist Russia, the daughter of serfs, but also among the first to abandon the land to enter the cities. She, along with her parents, husband, and children, toiled in Russia’s factories, but after Czarist officials killed her husband during a strike, she took her children and fled. Eventually they settled in Los Angeles, but life was no easier in America than it had been anywhere else. To make ends meet she became a midwife and a medicine woman, peddling folk remedies and peasant magic like a hedge witch. Most of it was worthless, but some of it wasn’t, and this drew the attention of an Acolyte. Apparently he felt Lilya worthy of the Embrace. The Russian refused; her sire didn’t take no for an answer. The Curse Shifts to Blessing Shattered by the Curse and cut off from her family Lilya drifted, joining the Circle of the Crone on her sire’s order. It was there that the previous Dark Mother took a specific interest in the young Kindred, helped to shape and rebuild the woman and initiated her into the Rites of Kali. Tonight, it seems Lilya had the last laugh; the covenant she joined on little else than her sire’s order is now hers to command. And as to the fate of the sire... no one really knows. Despite giving herself over almost completely to the Circle and its teachings, many suspect that Nordstran still keeps an eye on her mortal descendants who live in L.A. Stories also suggest that her oldest and most loyal ghouls may have been drawn from her own mortal children and grandchildren. Whether or not this is true is uncertain, but is fodder for many Rumors